Assam govt to bring law requiring registration of marriage, divorce for Muslims

GUWAHATI: The Assam government is to introduce a significant bill in the upcoming state Assembly session starting from August 22, which will make compulsory government registration of marriage and divorce among Muslim community people in the state.

The decision was taken during the state cabinet meeting held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Addressing a press conference at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state cabinet approved the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages Divorces Bill, 2024.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma tweets, “Today the Assam Cabinet has approved the Muslim Marriage Registration Bill 2024. It has two special provisions: Now the registration of Muslim marriages will be done by the government and not by the Qazi. Registration of child marriage shall… pic.twitter.com/elP3FlIJID

— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2024

“Earlier, the Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration was conducted by the Kazis. This new bill will ensure that Muslim marriage registration will be conducted by the government, not Kazi. There will be no marriage registration below 18 years. The registration authority will be the sub-registrar of Assam government”, Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

He further said that this new bill will be introduced in the state Assembly session which will be started from August 22. “The main aim of bringing this new bill is to fight against child marriage”, he said.

On the other hand, the Assam Chief Minister said, “A 5-km radius area around a heritage structure — like a Mandir or a Namghar — which is at least 250 years old, will be declared as a protected area. This implies that land in the area can be transacted only between families who have resided there for three generations or more. In the case of Majuli, it will cover the entire district”.

On Wednesday, the Assam CM said that his government would introduce a new law that will require compulsory security clearance for the opening of universities in the state. “Some institutions from Kerala are keen to open universities in the Muslim-majority areas of Assam. Congress had a policy of easily allowing any rich institution to open a university. A new Act will come up in the state cabinet that will make it compulsory to get security clearance for opening nursing colleges, medical colleges, and dental colleges,” Sarma told reporters here.

“There was no security clearance in our system and the Acts were formed by Congress, but there was no provision for getting security clearance. We will bring this clause to Assam also and it will take 2-3 months to bring it”, he added.

The Chief Minister said that some universities in Kerala are now trying to open universities in Barak Valley and Barpeta and when checking their backgrounds, it was found that they were suspicious. “But there is no provision for checking in Assam. That’s why we will bring a security clearance provision”, Sarma said. (ANI)